The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-12-01
DIR. FALL1eANr's sEwERAGEPLAN
Developed Out of His Inner Conscious
ness, But 1t Won't Stand Criticism.

| DIX, FALLlI DE w 6fbAGG AIAIs
Developed Out of His Inner Conscious
ness, But 1t w ont Stand Criticism.
NEWPORT, r. l., Nov 2s.--Edtto''
Morning News: I have received the in
terviews with DIR. Falligant, published
in your issues of Nov. 10 and %. Their criti-
cism of the plan proposed by me, and even
more strongly the interest of the city i'm
pei me to comment ON DR.. Falligants
proposition, which is:
l. To lay sewers through the alleys,
straight through from West Broad street TO
East Broad street, discharging into the
sewer In the latter and having uniform
| fall of Al inches to 100 feet.
2. To connect the stand pipe at Franklin
square, with a pressure of 120 feet about o3
pounds per square inch, with the head OF
each sewer at West Broad street having
valve to be opened daily to force out the
contents of the sewer, under pressure
3. To connect the houses with the alley
sewers by drains running on continuous
grade from the head, at the house, to the
| outlet, at the sewer.
The advantages promised are: Increased
rate of fall; flushing under heavy head,
and great saving OF money to the COM
munity.
The following objections to this system
| occur to me:
/. If the sewer in the alley south of Bay
street, for example, were only A feet deep at
! West Broad street, it would be l7.2 feet
deep at Whitaker street, 1873 feet at Lincoln
street, PIP feet at East Broad street. At
| this point it would be ~ rect LotCer than
| the bottom of the Broad street setUer were
this continued to meet it. Its average
depth from end to end would be 1874 feet
1t is an essential condition of the econom-
N nf tl1a ~ Go IN
go too deep into the ground, because of
| quicksand and of the instability Of the soil
on which the city is built, whenever water
| is struck in digging. In constructing these
sewers after DR.. Falligants plan, the same
| difficulty would be encountered that seemed
| to make questionable the long outlet origi-
nally proposed in my plan, and to involve a
| very great and unnecessary outlay.
The conditions improve somewhat as we
recede from the river, but the average cut
at the alley south of Congress street would
| be 1872 feet and the sewer would be 4. 8 feet
below the East Broad street sewer. Even
as far as Alice street the cut would be at its
deepest part 11.2 feet, while at the crossing
Of jefferson street the top Of the pipe tooutd
be only inches betoaO the grade of the
street.
1t was to obviate this absurdity that the
sewers in the plan submitted by me were
made to go westward, and then northward
and southwark, and going back around a
| corner to the point abreast of where you
started from. My lines rarely average more
than 9 feet in depth, and are there well
above the possibility of encountering quick
sand
The least fall of my smallest sewer is 4
inches to 100 feet, which is not very differ
ent from DR.. Falligants ~ inches.
| . To connect the water tower with the
| head of all of the sewers as far south as
Anderson street and to cary that effective
head to the most distant sewer would re
quire a main water pipe not less than 4
inches in diameter. To this must be added
the somewhat costly water gate with its
man hole and its continuation into the
sewer at each street. The 1872, 900 pumps
must be brought into use, kept in order and
| run for this purpose. An attendant must
be provided, whose daily duty it shall be to
open and close each water gate successfully.
Water delivered into the sewer with head
| of not l2O feet, but II feet, would force its
way back through house drains, pouring
out at low connections in houses near West
Broad street, and for long distance beyond
that, driving back strong current of sewer
air. If the sewers were made of the best
vitrefed pipe, having their joints cemented
III the best manner they would, under such
head as Dr. Falligant proposes, be so
Jared by the flow as to be broken, or to
nave their JOINTS opened.
8. The construction of house drains on
the grade indicated, where the sewer is 10
feet or more below the surface of the
ground, would be inordinately expensive
The cost of this work would fail on the in
dividual householder, and the difficulty of
securing good work under the direction of
the ordinary mechanic, working under such
great and unusual embarraSsments, would
be almost insuperable.
1t is quite clear from recent investiga-
tions in bacteriology that it is important to
avoid splashing and the driving of sewage
into spray, and that, consequently, the de-
livery of the house drain at the top of the
sewer would be particularly Objectionable.
1t would be Objectionable at any rate. as
preventing the smooth flow of both sewer
and house drain that it is so important to
secure.
4. The present East Broad street sewer
discharges its flow into the river through
the Biblo canal. 1t is probably necessary
that it should continue to do so, but it Is
equally necessary that all house sewage
should be kept out of it and delivered to a
distant point. Recent experience with the
use Of thesiphon for outlet work indicates an
easy solution of what has hitherto seemed a
serious difficulty in carrying out the plan
at first proposed.
This seems to me to be case where an
intelligent and ingenious gentleman, quite
| unfamiliar with the practical methods of
sewage, has developed out of his inner con-
seriousness a process which will not with
stand expert criticism.
In his enthusiasm, and to clear the wav
TO- his work, he imagines serious objections
to the method already prescribed, which is
the outgrowth Of no little experience and
familiarity with the details and the sanitary
bearings of sewerage work. 1t has been
| applied in the case Of Savannah with great
deal of study as to the arrangement of every
part, and the due consideration of local
difficulties, important among which is the
existence of large sewers, to which the lines
of the new work must be accommodated.
This system is no longer experimental; it
is at work to a greater or less extent, or is
being constructed, in many towns in all
parts of the country--on a very large scale
in Memphis, Omaha, Kalamazoo, Norfolk,
Pullman and Keene On. H.. 1t is in ali
cases entirely successful, and it has de-
veloped nowhere one of the objections that
DR.. Falligant has imagined.
Properly constructed, and properly regu-
lated, it is beyond question the best and
most complete means of removing foul
waste from town.
GEORGE f. WARrNG, JR
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